WHAT IS
INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT?
Integrated management is a joined-up thinking approach to management which addresses the whole functionality of an organisation and how it impacts its various stakeholder needs, expectations, and aspirations. Such an approach is holistic and boundless and is consequently universal in its application.
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The benefits of integrated management are, that through greater coherence within its structures and processes, and creating more equitable and higher stakeholder value. This is achieved through enhanced effectiveness, efficiency, and resilience. Integrated management beneficially impacts economic, social, and environmental goals, and is essential in addressing many problems that are experienced as complicated, challenging, or intractable.
Since the formal defining of integrated management in 2002 by the IMC, there has been a paradigm shift towards integrated thinking within organisations. An indicator of this is organisations adopting partial and fully integrated management systems and more holistic ways of assessing the performance and value of organisations. This paper revisits the 2002 integrated management definition, which remains essentially unchanged, and elaborates on its expressed principles and practical application via the MSS1000 single universal management system standard. This aids organisations in formulating their strategy to take a more joined up approach to their management.
For leaders to leverage the full potential value of integrated management, it needs to be applied globally throughout the governance and management of all nations and organisations, irrespective of type and size, and to their interactions. This requires that all participants be appropriately educated and trained so that their competence embraces the understanding of and ability to apply:
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This implies that all learning and development programs wherever they exist should be reviewed and appropriately restructured and updated based on integrated management thinking, principles, and practice.